Quebec’s newly minted government plans to make this weekend’s time change the last, Premier Paul St-Pierre Plamondon said Wednesday.
“This Saturday will, in all likelihood, be the last time we set our clocks back in Quebec,” he posted on Facebook.
“In recent years, the Parti Québécois has repeatedly questioned the practice of changing the clocks. Studies show that this practice is counterproductive to health and creates adjustment difficulties for children.”
The premier said that while the intention is to drop the practice of changing the time twice a year, the question of whether to stay with standard or daylight time has yet to be resolved.
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“Our intention is to act properly and intelligently. We will consult with specialists to confirm what appears to be a consensus — that this practice is counterproductive — and to ensure we lay the proper groundwork,” he said.
“To the parents who now face several weeks of managing their children’s reactions to this time change: This is likely the last year we will subject ourselves to such unnecessary burdens.”
Quebec Justice Minister Marie-Claude Sarrazin confirmed Wednesday afternoon she would take on the file, promising “brief consultations” in the coming months.
Consultations will aim to “validate what seems to be the consensus that the time change is a practice of the past,” Sarrazin said in a press release, pointing to research tying the time change to negative mental health effects.
Once a change takes effect, Quebec would join British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, the Yukon and Northwest Territories in eliminating biannual time changes.
A consultation launched in 2024 under the previous Coalition Avenir Québec government found 91 per cent of 214,000 respondents in favour of abolishing the change. Most preferred year-round summer time.
Scientific consensus appears to run counter to public opinion, however, with sleep researchers typically favouring a switch to permanent standard time.